Verstappen faces serious pressure from Red Bull teammate Hadjar

Verstappen has been untouchable at Red Bull Racing for years. Since Ricciardo’s departure, the Dutchman has been the undisputed leader at the Austrian team. For years he had to carry the load alone because no teammate could get close to him. During Red Bull’s dominant seasons, that worked out well, as Verstappen rarely faced internal competition.

While Verstappen had to really fight against teammates at Toro Rosso and in his early Red Bull Racing years, it became easier over time. At Toro Rosso, Verstappen narrowly won the duel against Carlos Sainz, after which he was beaten by Daniel Ricciardo in his first two seasons at Red Bull Racing.

It wasn’t until his third year that Verstappen, after a difficult start, truly managed to outperform the Australian. Ricciardo decided to cut his losses and left Red Bull Racing. Pierre Gasly was promoted but was quickly overwhelmed by Verstappen, while Alexander Albon fared little better over a year and a half.

Sergio Perez offered Verstappen some resistance for four years and would occasionally qualify ahead of the Dutchman. It didn’t happen often, though, and over a full season the four-time world champion was comfortably the best. In 2025, with Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda alongside him, Verstappen was once again very much on his own.

In 2026, Verstappen faces a challenge for the first time again. Red Bull has slipped to the midfield, but even there you drive with the same equipment as your teammate. That Hadjar made it to Q3 in Japan and Verstappen didn’t was therefore a big surprise.

Even so, from the very first meters in the RB22, Hadjar has been immediately competitive, much to Laurent Mekies’ great delight. The Red Bull Racing team principal already noted in Australia that Hadjar helps by allowing two different setups to be tested over a race weekend: something that predecessors of Hadjar couldn’t do, simply because they were too slow to truly serve as a reference for the right setup.

From the first free practice in Australia, Hadjar has been right on Verstappen’s heels. In Melbourne, he managed to qualify third when Verstappen crashed out in Q1. Exactly what you want from a second driver: be there when the lead driver has bad luck or an off day.

In China, Hadjar was again close to Verstappen. In qualifying, only 0.119s separated the four-time world champion and the young Frenchman. In the race, Hadjar scored the team’s only points when Verstappen retired with a problem on his car.

In Japan, Hadjar took the next step. This time he didn’t need Verstappen’s misfortune to finish ahead of the Dutchman. Hadjar was simply faster at the circuit where Verstappen had been on pole for the past four years. And with a 0.158s gap, it wasn’t a small margin by which Hadjar outpaced his more experienced teammate.

One lost qualifying doesn’t spell disaster for Verstappen. Still, it shows that even Verstappen can come under pressure from a strong teammate—something Red Bull has finally found again. It’s unfortunate for Hadjar that he’s stepping in during a year when Red Bull Racing has fallen back to the midfield. Whereas beating Verstappen in recent years might have meant a pole position, a win, or even a world title, now it gets you no further than P8 in qualifying for the Japanese GP.